The European Parliament Resolution on Jonathan Pollard

September 16, 1993

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    The European Parliament,

    1. noting that Jonathan Pollard, then of the US Navy, was convicted in 1985 of passing classified information to Israel concerning the military activities of Iraq, Syria and other Middle Eastern nations,

    2. noting also that the information dealt with the chemical, biological and nuclear arms build- up in these countries and that Pollard considered he had a moral duty to warn Israel of the developing massive threat to its security and to the lives of its people,

    3. whereas Pollard has expressed remorse for his action,

    4. whereas Pollard, who was not accused of treason, or of intending to harm the US, pleaded guilty under a plea bargain, and was thus convicted and sentenced, without a full trial, to life imprisonment, despite the Government's promise not to seek such a penalty,

    5. noting that the sentence imposed on Pollard was grossly disproportionate to those imposed on others by US courts for supplying information to a friendly power (normally from two to four years),

    6. shocked that most of Pollard's eight years in prison should have been spent in solitary confinement and underground,

    7. astonished that Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, described by one of his Under-Secretaries for Defense as having had 'an almost visceral dislike of Israel', should have sent a message to the trial judge, one hour before the sentencing hearing, asking for the stiffest possible sentence commensurate with Pollard's 'treasonous' (sic) behavior,

    8. noting however that Mr. Weinberger stated recently that he thought it was time that Mr. Pollard should be released; aware that Christian and Jewish organizations throughout the world have pleaded for the harsh sentence of life imprisonment to be commuted and that Judge Steve Williams wrote, in a dissenting opinion to an appellate court finding, that 'the government's conduct in this case resulted in a 'complete miscarriage of justice',

    1. Urges the US Administration to commute Pollard's sentence to one of time served and to release him immediately;

    2. Calls on EPC to intercede with the US government with this end in view;

    3. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, EPC and the Government of the United States.

    Voted almost unanimously

    on 16th September 1993.
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